Sighting: Prince shows draw a celebrity crowd

Prince performs during the 2012 iHeartRadio Music Festival at the MGM Grand Garden Arena September 22, 2012 in Las Vegas.

Prince performs during the 2012 iHeartRadio Music Festival at the MGM Grand Garden Arena September 22, 2012 in Las Vegas. (Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images)

About Last Night

Prince doesn’t tour nationally often, so when he does you know it’s going to create a buzz. And where there’s buzz, there are celebrities.

That was the case when the “Purple Rain” singer performed three shows early last week at the United Center — his first shows in Chicago since 2004.

George Lopez took in the Sept. 24 show while in town — he performed Sept. 22 at the Chicago Theatre and was at the Ryder Cup celebrity scramble Tuesday at Medinah Country Club. The former sitcom star and talk show host ran into The Roots drummer Questlove at the concert, according to his Twitter feed. “I’m a huge fan @questlove good to see you at the #prince show in Chicago,” Lopez tweeted.

It was no surprise that former Fall Out Boy singer Patrick Stump was also on hand Monday. The Glenbrook South High School alum has said in past interviews he was heavily influenced by Prince. “In spite of my obvious Prince obsession and the sheer amount of Prince merch I’ve bought over the years, this is my first Prince show,” tweeted Stump, who has covered Prince’s songs in concert, including “Nothing Compares 2 U.”

Prince performed the song, which he wrote for his side project The Family (Sinead O’Connor later made it famous with her version), with Grammy- and Oscar-winner Jennifer Hudson during Tuesday’s show.

Tweeted Hudson: “Awh I got to sing with Prince tonight in my hometown, n walk up the purple hallway while prince was on stage singing purple rain!!! Dreaming.”